You never know what life can bring
by age4age4
Summary: Sequel to same story, different sides. With a practically newborn baby at home and Jeff about to head out onto the road, Trish is more than in need for a vacation. But when a routine doctors visit goes wrong, she is suddenly hit with a series of bad news.
1. Chapter 1

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

Disclaimer: None of the major characters are mine

Authors' Note: This story takes places three months after the end of my last story.

* * *

(9 A.M)

"Hey babe, I can't find my jeans."

"There in the laundry room, on top of the dryer."

"And my shirt…?"

"Also in the laundry room, on top of the dryer."

"What about my—never-mind, I found it."

After silently laughing at Jeff's nervous behavior, Trish turned her attention back to what she was doing before she had been interrupted and continued feeding her daughter her breakfast, "Your daddy's so silly sometimes, isn't he, Angie?"

As if agreeing with her mommy, Angela began to giggle slightly causing bits of oatmeal to come spilling out of her mouth; an action which greatly amused Trish to no end. "Ha, I guess I see where he gets it from."

"So, how do I look?"

Moving her gaze from the still giggling infant in front of her, Trish turned her attention towards the door behind her, where Jeff was standing, wearing what looked to be his in-ring uniform, "Looks good, but don't you think it's a little bit early for you to be putting it on. You've still got another….**twelve **hours before your match tonight."

Without even bothering to conceal his playful roll of the eyes, Jeff quickly replied, "I know, but I just wanted to make sure it still fit. You know it's been a while since I've been in the ring. I just want to make sure everything goes right."

After making sure that Angela was securely fastened in her high-chair, Trish stood up and slowly wrapped her arms around Jeff's neck, "Don't worry so much, we both know you'll do just fine. And then later tonight, after we put Angela to bed, we can celebrate, just the two of us, _if_ you know what I mean."

Knowing exactly what the blonde meant by the slight look of mischief in her eyes caused Jeff to groan slightly before leaning in and meeting Trish's lips with his own.

Unfortunately before the kiss could even start to get good, a voice coming from behind them caused the two to break it up.

"So, this is what you two do in front of my niece when I'm not here? You both should be ashamed of yourself."

After rolling his eyes and commenting that he could only imagine what the older man would do in front of his own children in the future—a comment which caused Amy, who was in the process of removing Angela from her high-chair, to blush slightly—Jeff continued with, "I was just trying on my old gear for tonight, what do you guys think? I look okay?"

Without even bothering to give Jeff's outfit more than a brief once over, Matt absentmindedly replied, "You look great," afterwards following that statement with, "I'm starving, you got any food?"

"Ugh, you're such a pig."

Shooting his girlfriend a mock angry look, Matt sarcastically replied, "Well, if _somebody_ would get up and cook for me in the morning, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"And if _somebody_ got off their lazy butt and cooked **himself** breakfast in the morning, we wouldn't be having this conversation either."

_Touché_, Trish inwardly thought to herself, in amusement, before breaking up the on-going argument by saying that if she and Amy didn't leave soon, they'd be late for her doctor's appointment. A comment which caused Jeff to quickly say "all right" to, before leaning in and giving Angela and Trish another kiss—much to Matt's disapproval, "I love you and be safe out there."

"I will and I love you, too. Bye babe."

* * *

An hour and a half later, after sitting through almost fifteen minutes of traffic and then sitting in a waiting room full of impatient looking people waiting to be seen by their doctors, Amy and Trish found themselves seated in a room full of Trish's doctors diplomas, with nothing else to keep them entertained but Angela's slight snoring. 

"So, did he tell you why he wanted you to come back today?"

Having already gone over this before with Jeff caused Trish to slightly sigh, while outwardly replying, "No, he just had his secretary call and tell me he wanted me to come in for a follow up appointment. I don't think anything could be wrong, but I just want to get this over with. I _hate_ doctor's offices."

Not caring for them so much herself caused Amy to open her mouth to second that statement, but as the door to the office opened again and Trish's doctor stepped in, Amy found herself quickly growing quiet.

"Miss. Stratus, it's always good to see you again…and, ah, I see you've brought Ms. Dumas and Angela with you again, as well. Nice seeing the both of you as well."

Even though she usually found the older man's flirtatious behavior to be highly amusing, Trish's voice lacked any pleasantries as she quickly replied, "Your secretary said you wanted to talk to me about my last visit."

"Yes…yes, I do." Dr. Montgomery responded, before sliding on his glasses and then hitting Trish with a serious expression, "there's no easy way to say this, but I didn't want to say anything to you until I got your lab results back in…"

_Oh my God…what's wrong with me?_

After taking a second to brace herself for whatever the doctor in front of her could say to her, Trish gave the man a slight nod giving him permission to go along. "I'm listening."

"The last time you were here, you had your routine breast examine done, and I didn't tell you this before, but I found a lump during it."

_A lump? In my breast?_

Even though Trish had been coming up with different things her doctor could have been calling her in to talk to him about, one a lot more extreme than the next, she hadn't even thought about him finding a lump in her breast.

"Are you saying I may have breast cancer?"

Without even bothering to think about it for a second, Dr. Montgomery quickly replied, "_No_, but what I **am** saying is that you have a lump, which could be cancerous or just a small cyst--we wont know until we have you go see a specialist and get a biopsy done, hopefully sooner than later. When would be a good day for you to come in and have it done?"

While unable to process this information, Trish found herself outwardly replying, "I don't know, the sooner the better, I guess." Afterwards, she turned her gaze towards Amy, who seemed to be wearing the same look of shock that she had on her face.

_Well, I guess that makes two of us._

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

PARENTAL ADVICE

To say the drive back to Trish's house was fairly silent would be an understatement. Both women were so wrapped up in their own thoughts during the ride home that they each found themselves jumping slightly when Angela let out a high pitch scream; telling the both of them that she needed to be changed _immediately_.

"We're almost home, sweetie, then mommy will change your diaper, okay?" Trish outwardly replied, even though by Angela's persistent screaming, she knew she was more talking to herself than anyone else for that matter.

After a few seconds of listening to her god-child cry, Amy hesitantly asked, "So, what are you thinking about?"

"I don't know," Trish replied, while turning her attention away from the window she was looking out of and towards Amy's questioning side glance. "I mean what if it's not just a cyst, what if I _really_ do have breast cancer? What am I going to do then? I...I just had a baby, I **can't** have cancer. It's just not possible."

Knowing that her friend was in complete shock at the moment caused Amy to just nod her head in understanding while listening to Trish ramble.

She knew if she was in the other woman's shoes right now, she probably wouldn't be able to wrap her mind around any of this either. Hell, she _wasn't_ in Trish's shoes right now and she **still** couldn't wrap her thoughts around any of this at the moment.

"I just don't know what to think."

Even though she knew this was something that was best not held back from Jeff for too long, Amy couldn't help but ask Trish if she was going to tell the younger man when she saw him that night.

Having not even wanted to think about telling Jeff right now caused Trish to think about it for a second, before outwardly replying, "He's already nervous enough as it is about his match tonight, I don't want to knock him off of his game even more than he already has so I'll just wait until it gets closer to my biopsy time before I tell him. That way, I'll have had enough time to think about it before I tell him about it."

Knowing how Jeff sometimes over reacted to things, especially when it came to Trish or Angela, caused Amy to outwardly say that _that_ was probably a good idea, but then a second later, she shortly added afterwards, "Just don't wait too long, okay?"

A question which caused Trish to outwardly reply:

"Don't worry, I won't."

* * *

(Later that night)

"So, did you get a chance to talk to Vince after your mach tonight?"

After taking a second to peek into his daughters room to make sure that she was still fast asleep, Jeff quietly shut the door behind him before, waiting until he was back down the hall in the kitchen, to answer the person who was on the phone. "No, he had already left by the time I finished taking a shower, so I didn't get a chance to speak to him. But I did run into Paul after my match and he said he thought I did a good job out there and would defiantly be getting a call from one of the writers about some upcoming storylines after I get back from doing my week of house shows."

"That's good," Gilbert Hardy remarked, before changing the subject slightly and continuing with, "It seems like every things beginning to really look up for you again career wise, but how about relationship wise? Did you come up with a decision about what we talked about yet?"

Knowing that the elder Hardy was talking about Jeff's desire to propose to Trish caused him to grin slightly. He had already asked Trish's father for his permission to ask for Trish's hand in marriage, now he just had to come up with a way to ask Trish for her own hand in marriage.

"I've been fooling around with a couple of ideas, but I think I'm just going to wait until I get back from my stay out on the road. Trish's mom will be here during then and if I leave right after my last match of the week, I'll be able to take Trish out to somewhere nice for dinner and then maybe for a walk along the beach. And then hopefully by the end of the night, she'll have agreed to be my wife."

Hearing the slight chuckle coming from the other end of the phone told Jeff he had somehow amused his father, "That sounds like a really good plan, son. I know if your mother was still here she'd commend you for putting some thought into it and then ask why **I **wasn't as romantic as _her_ son."

Even though he knew his father was just kidding, the slight pause after his dad's words told Jeff that today was one of those days where the older man wished more than anything that Jeff's mother could've been there right now to say those words.

_Even after all these years, he still misses her…_

Not knowing what he would ever do if something bad was to ever happen to Trish caused Jeff to understand a little where the man was coming from and then feel a pang of regret that he hadn't gone to see his father in over a couple of days, even though neither him or Matt lived more than fifteen minutes away from the older man.

"You know, I just realized it's been almost a week since you've seen your only grandchild. If you're not too busy tomorrow, how about Trish and I stop by for dinner tomorrow night. We can bring some Boston Market and that cheesecake you like from the cheesecake factory."

After only a couple seconds pause, Jeff found another smile appearing across his face as Gilbert replied back that he'd be looking foreword to it. "But now, not to cut this conversation short, but I need to be getting back to bed and you need to be getting back to Trish. She's been at home all week with that baby of yours and you need to make sure you show that woman just how much you appreciate her and everything she's done around that house for you, I'm serious."

Knowing that his father was indeed serious and that he really needed to do that—even if it took the rest of his life—Jeff outwardly replied "will do," before wrapping up his conversation with his father and bidding the older man as good night.

_Now to go find Trish so we can start celebrating_

Unfortunately for Jeff, once entering the bedroom he shared with Trish, he realized there wouldn't be a lot of celebrating going on that night as Trish seemed to be not only fast asleep, but also surprisingly passed out from exhaustion.

_This would be my luck._

Even though he was almost positive that she wouldn't answer him, Jeff outwardly asked Trish if she was awake. Then after a second of not getting any answer from the blonde, he threw one last hopeful glance her way, before crawling into bed beside Trish and reluctantly making himself go to sleep.

* * *

(Thirty minutes later)

After waiting until Jeff's small snores had begun filling their spacious bedroom—a sure sign that the younger man had finally fallen asleep—Trish carefully slid herself out of their bed and then just as quietly made her way out of their room; softly shutting the door behind her, as an afterthought.

_I thought he'd never go to sleep._

Having not wanted to outright lie to Jeff about her doctor's appointment earlier that afternoon had caused Trish to make every excuse in the book not to be near Jeff after she had came home from Dr. Montgomery's office. Then after they had arrived back from his match, Trish had almost jumped with joy when Jeff offered to put Angela down for bed while she went and took a shower. Unfortunately for her boyfriend, this had given Trish an idea to pretend like she had fallen asleep quickly after doing so, while he had been in Angela's room reading her a bedtime story and then on the phone with his dad, catching him up with everything that had gone on that day.

Well, everything except for one very important detail that **he** didn't even know yet.

With that thought in mind, Trish quietly made her way down to the kitchen, where Jeff had just come from; picking up the cordless phone from the island that Jeff had dropped it off at.

"It's only a little bit past twelve-thirty, she still should be up."

After dialing the familiar Canadian number and hearing only two rings, just as she'd known, Trish mother Alice answered the phone, sounding completely wide awake. "Hello?"

"Hey mom, how are you?"

After hearing a small pause, telling Trish that her father was probably sleeping and her mother was going to find a quiet place to talk away from him, Mrs. Stratus finally came back to the phone, saying: "I'm good, no complaints. But I probably should be asking you the same thing….you usually never call this late, is everything okay?"

Knowing there was no way in hell she'd ever be able to keep anything away from Alice Stratus caused Trish to let out a slow sigh before letting the older woman into everything she had learned from her doctor today.

"You scheduled the appointment for when I get there, right?"

Figuring that would be her mother's first question, Trish immediately replied that she had, "Which I'm kind of regretting now because I know after I tell Jeff the news he's going to try and post-pone his trip out of town and try and stay until we find out for sure what's going on. I really don't want him to have to do that, especially after he's already waited this long to hear something back from the McMahons."

Knowing just how much Trish was willing to put Jeff and Angela ahead of herself, just so they'd both be happy, caused Alice to give her self a small pat on the back for raising such an unselfish daughter, but then after another second, she quickly replied, "Well, who says you have to tell him?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong, Jeff **does** have a right to know what's going on with you, but it's just a biopsy and _you_ don't even know for sure if its anything more than just a small cyst. There's no need to get Jeff worked up over nothing, especially so close to when it's time for him to leave."

Even though she understood her mom's point of view, Trish knew that if she did what her mom said she'd probably end up feeling very guilty the next couple of days for hiding this small fact from Jeff.

_But I'd also feel guilty if he was to stay here with me, only to find out a week later that it was nothing more than a lump that would go away within a couple of months._

With that being her final thought on the subject, Trish told her mom that she wouldn't tell Jeff the news until after she had received the results of her biopsy test. And hopefully by then, she added, Jeff would be too relieved knowing that nothing was going to happen to Trish to even be that mad that she had kept it a secret from him for so long.

A statement which Alice believed to be true, as well.

"Don't worry sweetie, everything will work itself out in no time, just you wait and see."

"I know, mom, but let's just hope so, all right?"

* * *

Next part soon, what do you think so far? 


	3. Chapter 3

TEST TIME

The week leading up to Jeff's departure for Florida had been one of the slowest weeks of Trish's life.

Every time Jeff would open his mouth to ask her something, Trish was scared that he was going to ask her about her doctor's visit--that she was still managing to keep mum about--but lucky for her, Jeff had been so busy preparing for his trip out on the road that anything other than _hello_, _I love you_, and _goodbye_ had been removed from his vocabulary--much to Trish's relief.

"All right, I guess this is everything." Jeff spoke up; causing Trish to look up from the parenting magazine she had been skimming through and laugh out-loud as Jeff tried with all his might to close the suitcase he had pretty much stuffed to the brim with clothes and random toiletries. "Man, I forgot how much stuff you needed out on the road. I don't think I'm going to be able to fit all of my stuff into this one bag."

"Well, maybe if you had folded all of your clothes correctly, you wouldn't be having this problem right now." Trish jokingly remarked back, before getting up, moving her boyfriend aside and quickly unpacking and then repacking the rather large bag he had bought; afterwards throwing Jeff a smug grin when after she had finished packing the suitcase, he was able to zip it up without so much as any effort. "See! Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

After rolling his eyes in mock annoyance, Jeff outwardly replied that he'd show her _hard_, before pulling the still giggling Trish into his arms and silencing her laughter with his inviting lips; an action which caused her to moan slightly in appreciation and Jeff's brother, who had just walked into the room, to groan with disgust.

"Oh come on, I was only gone for _two_ seconds, not this again!"

Pulling back from Trish, Jeff threw Matt an annoyed glare while sarcastically replying, "Well maybe if you learned to _leave_ our house for **more** than two seconds, you wouldn't have to see _this_ again."

"Then where would the fun in that be?" Matt innocently asked, causing Trish to slightly laugh and Jeff to curse the other man's existence.

"All right boys, enough's enough. You keep yelling at each other and you're going to miss your flight and we **definitely** don't want that, now do we?"

Knowing the blonde was right caused both men to stop horsing around and state that if they really did not want to miss their flight, they should start leaving now.

"All right, Trish, I'll see you in a couple of weeks," Matt commented, before giving the woman he already considered his sister-n-law a brief hug goodbye and then exiting the room; leaving the two love-birds alone by themselves—much to Jeff's delight.

"You sure we don't have time for a quick one before I leave?"

After rolling her eyes in amusement and telling her horn-ball of a boyfriend that they **definitely** did not have time for a _quick one_ before him and Matt left, Trish closed the distance between her and Jeff; enjoying the feel of being in Jeff's arms one last time before he left.

_I can't believe this is the first time that we're going to be away from each other since getting back together. And that was more than eight months ago._

With that thought in mind, Trish outwardly told Jeff, while pulling out of his embrace, to call her as soon as his plane touched down, just so she could know he had made it to Fort Lauderdale safely.

"Don't worry, I will." Jeff replied back, before picking up his bag from the bed and bending over slightly to give Trish one last kiss goodbye, "I love you."

"I love you too, babe." Trish outwardly replied back, before absentmindedly watching on as Jeff turned away from her and made his way out their bedroom door, giving her a small wink in appreciation before he disappeared from her line of vision.

_I can't believe he hasn't even left yet and i already miss him...this **really **will be the longest week of my life._

* * *

(The next day)

"All right, Miss. Stratus, we're about to begin. Now I don't know how much your doctor has told you about this procedure, but all we're going to do is stick this tiny needle into this syringe, place it through the area where the lump is located at, then take a small sample of the tissue surrounding it out to determine whether the lump is benign or cancerous. You may feel a slight pain or discomfort in that area for a couple of days afterwards, but by the time the pain has faded away, your results will have come back and then we can proceed onto whichever step we need to continue on with. Okay?"

Knowing at this point in time that it didn't really matter anymore if she was okay with this or not caused Trish to absentmindedly nod her head in acknowledgement before closing her eyes and praying to God that this would be over and done with quickly so she could hurry up and put her clothes back on and then get as far away from the hospital as she could possibly go.

_The only thing I can't stand more than doctor's offices is hospitals and this is the __**third**__ time in the last two weeks that I've been in one of them. I wonder if they can just give me my results over the phone or if I actually have to come back here—knowing my luck right now, I'll probably be right back here._

"Okay, I'm going to go ahead and slide the needle in now. You will feel a series of pricks in that area while I'm doing so, which **will** sting a little, so feel free to squeeze the nurse's hand to your right if need be."

Even though Trish assumed the pain she was about to feel couldn't be as bad as the natural childbirth she had gone through with Angela a few months ago, she still opted to take the hand of the woman beside her. An action which she found had been greatly necessary as the doctor began administering the needle into her left breast, causing Trish to almost scream at the intense pain she was feeling.

_Oh my God…_

After almost five minutes, and what felt like a million samples being taken from her breast, Dr. Gonzalez announced to Trish that she was done and could—with the nurse's assistance, of course—put her shirt back on.

"My secretary should be calling you in about a week to come in for the results of your biopsy test. Now, if there are no further questions, you can go as soon as you finish getting dressed, okay?"

After outwardly thanking the nurse for all her help, Trish told the patiently waiting doctor that she had no further questions, but then as an afterthought she inwardly added to her self:

_Just show me the way out of this place..._

* * *

(A half-n-hour later)

"I'm going to go read Angie a story and then put her down for her nap; do you want me to get you anything before I do so--maybe a hot cup of tea?"

While inwardly smiling to herself at the memory of her older sister Christie saying that their mother always tried to cure everything with a _hot cup of tea_, Trish outwardly told her mom that she was fine and was just going to go call Jeff before joining Angela for a quick nap, herself.

"Okay. I'll come in and check on you once she's asleep and then I might go ahead and start dinner so you don't have to cook anything tonight. Is that all right?"

After telling her mother that she didn't need her permission to do anything in her and Jeff's house, Trish waited until she heard her mom enter her grand-daughter's bedroom, before making herself as comfortable as possible on the living room couch and then afterwards dialing Jeff's cell phone number.

"Hey babe, I was just thinking about you, what's up?"

"Nothing," Trish began, while furrowing her eyebrows at all the background noise she heard through the phone, "I just remembered that you didn't have to be at the arena until six tonight, so I was just calling to check up on you. What's all that background noise? It sounds like you're at the mall."

After a small second's pause, which Trish figured Jeff had gone to find somewhere quieter to talk in, the youngest Hardy quickly replied, "That's 'cause I am. Amy got this bright idea that she wanted to check out Sawgrass Mills mall—which is supposed to be one of the hugest malls in South Florida, so she says—and since she couldn't get Matt to budge, her next option was me. And you know how I'm a sucker for a woman's pout."

Knowing just how much that statement was true and how she always used to love using it on Jeff when they first started dating so she could get her way, caused Trish to slightly laugh. But then afterwards, she had to hold back a wince as the pain from earlier came back full throttle.

_I'll have to remind myself to pick up some pain killers while I'm at the drug store later on._

"So, how's everything over there? Your mom getting on your nerves yet?"

Even though she wanted to tell Jeff that it was just the opposite and her mom was actually being a god send right now, knowing she couldn't really do that without exposing too much, caused Trish to outwardly reply, "Not yet. I'm sure soon though. How's everything there though? Tonight's your first match right?"

"Yeah, it's against Adam, but I think this is probably going to be his last house match for a while. Theirs been some murmurings going around that he's about to get a big push and might just be on the televised shows from now on. Lucky him!"

Knowing that Jeff would give anything to be able to be back on television wrestling again caused Trish to tell her boyfriend that she was sure that he'd be getting his big break soon and that she couldn't wait to video tape every match he was in so when Angela got a little bit older she'd be able to look back at all the matches she had missed out on.

"At the rate I'm going, there might not be that much for her to look back on."

Even though she knew that was meant to be a joke, Trish didn't find it to be a very funny one; a fact which Jeff seemed to pick up on.

"I'm sorry. I know it's going to take some time for me to get back to the level that I once was before. I just get frustrated and impatient sometimes when I think of how long it might take me. I don't mean to bring you down with me though."

Without even bothering to think about it, Trish outwardly replied, "You're not bringing me down, babe, I just don't like to hear you talk like that 'cause we both know that this is just a small stepping stone for you and soon you'll be back on the air before you even know it--and then, _I'm_ going to have to get back in shape so I can compete with all those young girls out there vying for your attention. Damn, now I'm starting to bring myself down."

After slightly chuckling at his girlfriends' words and then telling Trish, when it came to him, she'd never have any reason to compete with anyone else, Jeff continued with, "Uh-oh, it looks like Amy's giving me the evil eye. I guess that means I have to get off the phone and follow her into another store. You guys going to be home in an hour or so? I'll call you when I get back to the hotel."

"That's fine," Trish reluctantly replied, having not wanted her conversation with Jeff to have to end so shortly, "Just call me when you get a chance. I love you."

"I love you too, bye beautiful."

"Bye Jeff."

* * *

Next part soon 


	4. Chapter 4

RESULTS

(A week later)

"So, what do you think about this one?"

While trying to hold back the groan that so desperately wanted to come out of her mouth right now, Amy gave the engagement ring in Jeff's hand a brief once over before outwardly replying, "It's nice. A little smaller than the last one you showed me, but still nice none-the-less."

"You think so?" Jeff asked no one in particular, before handing the ring back to the man in front of him and then telling Amy to look at this other ring he'd just seen; this time producing a more audible groan from the older woman.

"Come on, Jeff, we've been here for almost an hour now and you **still** haven't found anything that you like yet. I'm starving and I know you are too so why don't we just go back to the hotel already and order up some room service. Then we can come back here tomorrow morning and start all over again, if you want to."

Knowing that he was indeed starving at the moment but that he wouldn't have enough time to come back the following morning caused Jeff to turn back towards the display case in front of him while outwardly telling Amy that said fact out loud. "You know this will be my last day to be able to shop for a ring before I go home tomorrow morning. I don't know why you even agreed to help me shop for a ring if you knew you were just going to give up on me halfway through the process. If I would've known that, I would've just told you to stay back at the hotel with Matt, and I would've came here by myself."

_Right! Like that would've ever happened…_

Knowing that if left to his own devices, Jeff would've went home with something that was either too big or too small for Trish's finger caused Amy to say that said fact out loud and then afterwards follow it up with, "And besides, I said that statement **before** I knew you were going to drag me to every god damn mall that we've encountered this past week."

"Before now, I never thought I'd have to say this fact out-loud but if I never have to see another mall another day in my life, I don't think I'd be that disappointed about it. As a matter of fact, I might have to say that I just might be relieved of that fact. Seriously! You've driven me that far."

While laughing at the show that his brother's girlfriend was putting on at the moment, Jeff opened his mouth to tell Amy that she could stop complaining 'cause he had as well given up on the store that they were in and wanted to check out another store that he had seen before exiting the mall. But before the words could even get pass his lips, something caught his eye, causing him to stop and ask the man behind the counter if he could see the particular gem that had stopped him.

"Here we go again…"

Ignoring Amy's words, Jeff took the ring that the man was offering him and then after examining it for a good minute, he let a slow smile slip upon his face as he outwardly replied that he thought he had found it. "I think this is the one."

"Well, hallelujah, praise the lord." Amy quipped sarcastically, but then a second later she grabbed the ring that Jeff had been examining and after another second, she soon found herself smiling as well. "Damn, this **is** a nice ring, Hardy. You should definitely buy this one."

Even though Jeff had no intention of walking out of the store without that ring in his hand, he couldn't help but ask Amy if she really liked the stone he had picked out for Trish; a question which caused the red haired beauty to shortly reply that she did indeed like the ring.

"And if she knows what's good for her, Trish will like it too—or at least she **better **like it 'cause I'm not going to another store with you for the rest of my life. You're on your own next time, buddy."

After chuckling once again at Amy's words and then handing the owner of the store back his ring so he could wrap it up for him, Jeff outwardly replied that there would be no need for Amy to come to the store with him next time.

_Cause with Trish by my side, there will never have to be a next time_

* * *

(The next day – Rainey Memorial Hospital)

"Are you sure you don't want me to go inside with you?"

Adverting her eyes away from the window she was looking out of, Trish met her mother's worried gaze with a semi-nervous one of her own.

"No, I'll be fine. I probably won't even have to be in there that long--and besides we both know if you try and move Angela out of her car-seat right now, she'll probably just wake up and I want her to get as much rest as possible since I'm sure Jeff will want to play with her as soon as he gets home tonight.

Knowing that was true and that her daughter was trying to put on a brave front for her benefit alone caused Alice to not bother protesting the fact anymore and instead, after glancing down at the radio clock and noticing the time, she outwardly told Trish that she better hurry up and go inside unless she wanted to be late for her doctor's appointment.

"You're right…" Trish replied back, while quickly unbuckling her seatbelt and making a move to open the passenger door beside her; as an afterthought, throwing over her shoulder, "Wish me good luck."

A comment which caused Alice to throw back, "You don't need it…you've got love."

* * *

(Later that night)

After spending almost half the day in a crowded airport and then a good thirty minutes in the back seat of Matt's car listening to him and Amy bicker about which radio station they wanted to play, Jeff couldn't help but let out a deep sigh of relief after opening the door to the four bedroom house he shared with his daughter and Trish and spotting the latter in the kitchen elbow deep in a sink full of dirty dishes.

"Hmm, just like I like my women. Wet, barefoot and in the kitchen." Jeff jokingly commented, before giving his soon to be, if everything turned out right, fiancée a small hug from behind, and then outwardly continuing with: "Damn, I really missed you…where's your mom and Angela?"

While letting herself get lost in Jeff's warm embrace for a second or two, Trish slowly replied back that they had just left a couple of minutes ago for the park, "My mom wanted to give us some time alone together after you got back from your trip."

While inwardly thanking Alice for being on the same page as he was for the night, Jeff pulled Trish's hair, that was on her shoulder, away from her face; afterwards while bringing his lips to her neck, he half-jokingly mumbled, "So, we're all alone in this big ass house of ours? Hmm, what ever should we do?"

Without bothering to wait for Trish to reply back to that statement, Jeff carefully spun her around to him; expecting an amused smile to be playing on her face, but instead Jeff was soon shocked when he noticed instead was two bright red eyes and a slightly damp face.

_What the hell?_

Not really knowing what to say at this development caused Jeff to half jokingly reply, "Well, I knew you missed me a lot while I was out on the open road, but theirs no need to cry about it. I'm home now."

A comment which caused Trish to smile for a second, but unfortuantly not the playful smile he was used to.

"Hey…what's wrong..? Did something happen to Angela?"

After watching Trish shake her head no, Jeff ignored the bad vibe he was getting and quickly asked, "Then what's the matter;" immediately afterwards feeling himself become numb when Trish replied back:

"I have cancer."

* * *

Next part soon 


	5. Chapter 5

TOGETHER

"I have cancer..."

_Cancer...? _The words seemed to echo throughout the room for several seconds after they came out of Trish's mouth. _**Cancer**__..? She can't have cancer. She just had a baby...I was just about to propose. This is not supposed to be happening to her…this can't be happening to her._

"Jeff..? Did you hear what I said?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Jeff gently pulled Trish closer to him in an embrace; scared if he held her too tight she might break, but afraid if he didn't hold her close to him, he'd break. "It's okay, babe. Don't cry. We're going to get through this, I promise. We'll get the best doctors money can buy and, I don't care how much it cost, we'll see through this thing together, got it?"

As if those were the exact words she needed to hear at the moment, Trish let out a deep sigh and wrapped her arms around Jeff's waist; bringing them, if possible, closer together than before. "I love you so much. I just don't know what I'd do if I lost you or Angie."

"Hey, don't talk like that." Jeff responded back, while pulling his girlfriend slightly away from him so he could look directly into her eyes. "No one's going anywhere, okay? We got through my car accident together. We can get through anything together and still come out stronger in the end, okay…? Now, what did the doctors say? Is there a type of treatment you have to go through? Some sort of medicine you have to take? What kind is it?"

After taking a second to wipe away the tears that were coming down her face, Trish calmly replied: "He said I have invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer. It's one of the most common types of cancer out there for women my age. Because they caught it so early, there is an eighty-five percent chance that with the help of radiation and doctor's care I could be cancer free within a year, tops, and wont have to get a mastectomy done, hopefully."

_A mastectomy…_

Jeff had only heard that word used once before when he was younger, and it was when his mother had been diagnosed with severe breast cancer and the doctor's told her that the only way to save her would be to take off her right breast.

'_Some help that did.'_

"Jeff?"

Snapping out of his thoughts again, Jeff outwardly apologized for drifting off and continued with: "So, when do you start treatment?"

"I start it first thing Monday morning. I have to do some blood work first, and take a couple of other tests, but then I'll be undergoing Chemo for about six months. I should be finished hopefully when you come back from touring, over Christmas break."

As if Trish had just thrown a pan of hot water on him, Jeff couldn't help but look at her incredulously. "You can't seriously think I'm still going to go out on tour now, can you? I'm not going to leave you here now, especially with Angie and this going on. Vince will just have to understand that family comes first, you know that."

After taking a second to shake her head in response, Trish replied: "Babe, the last thing I want you to do is stay here with me. You've worked so hard to get where you are and you deserve to go for it. Besides, both my mom and dad have already made arrangements to stay here for the duration of my treatment, to help take care of Angie while I'm working through this, and there is really nothing you can do for me while here that you can't do for me while you're out on the road. Just love and support me, okay?"

Even though he knew it was a losing battle when Trish set her mind onto something, Jeff couldn't help but argue with her. "I want to help you through this. I want us to get through this thing ***together*..."**

Not knowing exactly how the tables had turned from him comforting Trish to her comforting him caused Jeff to be a little taken back when Trish threw out his words from earlier: "Hey, we got through your car accident, we can get through anything, especially this together…even if you are out on the road. I promise."

After letting out a small chuckle and a slight roll of the eyes, Jeff pulled Trish back to him and inwardly agreed to her wishes—whether he liked it or not.

'_God, just keep her safe…I don't know what I'd do if I was to lose her again.'_

_

* * *

  
_

Next part soon. Sorry this chapter was so short, I just thought you guys would like a little update before I take a second and step away to write some longer chapter for this fic and my other ones. Comments please!!


End file.
